


Xiaolin Showdown: Beyond Good and Evil

by KarinW



Category: Xiaolin Showdown (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2019-04-08 03:20:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14096040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KarinW/pseuds/KarinW
Summary: Jack Spicer teams up with Sinope, a new girl he met in a very unusual way, in order to help him improve his robots. However, when he decides to bring her along in his search for Shen Gong Wus, things get rather complicated. Her sudden interest in Chase Young and the Monks puzzles Jack, shaking his trust in her.At these times, when the forces of Evil rise above the skies and manage to gain more power than ever, loyalty becomes a faded and confusing concept for everyone caught up in this vortex of schemes and battles.





	1. Serendipity

As days went by, Jack Spicer, the Evil Boy Genius, seemed more and more restless. There have been more than a few weeks since the last Shen Gong Wu revealed itself, a thing that started to worry quite much the young scientist. As far as he could recall, it never happened before to wait so many days for a Shen Gong Wu to be sensed by his machine. Maybe it just broke down…

He went again to make a revision. He had never this problem when Wuya was on his side. Although she was just a ghost and couldn’t help him in a showdown, she was very useful in finding Shen Gong Wu and above that, she never needed a revision. Jack seemed, for a second, to actually miss the old Witch. Immediately after this thought crossed his mind he shook his head as if he wanted to get rid of an annoying fly. He was much better without her, he told himself; he didn’t need that ugly traitor when he had all those robots on his side. He kept telling himself that his machines would never turn against him for someone ‘cooler’ as Chase Young or Hannibal Roy Bean.

Jack noticed after he finished its revision that the machine didn’t seem to have any problems. That only meant that the next Shen Gong Wu was simply more stubborn than the others. Jack got up from the chair, putting the machinery back on his writs, making it look like a futuristic watch. He looked around his lab. Most of his robots needed rebuilding after the last fight with the Xiaolin monks. Jack avoided beginning their repairs until his new sketches were completed. He meant to incorporate them a better attacking device and also changing their armour, but so far, nothing seemed to come together for the young Evil Boy Genius. He sighed as he looked around for his wrench. The whole place was a mess… he wondered how was he even able to find his computer in all that chaos, set aside the small pieces he needed for building the robots.

“Jack-Bots!” Jack announced and three robots rose from under some iron parts and flew to Jack. He looked at them, apparently waiting for some others to arrive. Besides the medical robot he scarcely brought into battle and which needed no repairs, the rest of the robots he expected didn't seem to appear. “That’s all I rebuilt by now?...” He face-slapped himself and put his hands on the working table, bowing his head at the same time. “And I wanted to take the over the world and gather all the Shen Gong Wu… with three robots. You three!” he raised his head “clean around here… and get me that wrench!”

***

Sinope’s head hurt worse than it did in the morning. A migraine forced her to lower the speed of her motorbike in order to keep control of the vehicle. Her friends encouraged her to take a break from her job and go on a vacation for, as they believed, her pain appeared due to the amount of stress she was under. She could’ve believed it herself if it wasn’t for the vivid hallucinations she began to have once again. However, unlike the other times, when her mind was focused, even in her subconscious, on the people she knew or she at least met before, this time, the images she received were completely unknown to her. Maybe, she thought, she has just interpreted everything wrong. She tried to believe that it was only her mind which was trying to give her answers to questions she had buried deep in her brain and the form she was receiving was slightly modified by the consciousness. This was a logical explanation; however, she didn’t manage to persuade her mind to accept it completely.

The last turn got her almost off-guard and because of her lack of care, she barely managed to stay on the road. She tried to concentrate on the road, removing those thoughts from her head which were keeping her almost daydreaming. She thought that the journey would be a good idea for her to relax. She wasn’t planning to get anywhere specifically, only to visit a part of the country and then return home, but as it seemed, the road was only making her headache worse. She checked the last milestone only to see how much it would take her to get to the point she was planning to reach by sunset. After spending a night there, she even considered returning home and staying in bed for a couple of days.

As she watched the trees running on the sides of the roads while her motorbike was gaining more and more speed, curious locks of black hair were dancing in front of her eyes. Shortly the road was lost in the thickness of black hair. She took the hands from the handlebars and raised them in order to remove those locks. As she did that, her legs remained steady on the ground with no sign of her motorbike. When she touched the hair, it retreated upwards quickly. She looked up. A shadowy figure crawled in the darkness on some sort of a wall. She stepped back obviously shaken by the episode.

Suddenly, darkness surrounded her, making it impossible for her to distinguish anything around her. In the distance, hurried steps were creating the only noise from that place. Sinope tried to find the source, but the speed of the creature lurking in the shadows confused her. Pretty soon, the sounds of the steps became more and more clear.

“Who’s there?” she called. “Stay away!”

The steps got closer and closer. She put herself on guard. She was no longer sure she could spot an enemy using only her ears, for this way of fighting was something she hadn't been practising in a very long time. However, she thought, there was no other option at that moment; her ears were the only shot she had. She closed her eyes and waited for the steps to get even closer. She waited…

A strong hit broke through her guard, dislocating her shoulder at first, and then going further fissuring two ribs. She cried out falling on her back. Her vision blurred. Darkness was no longer surrounding her. Now, the colour she was seeing was light blue.

***

The robots seemed to make more mess than cleaning up. Jack was silent in a corner of the working table, with his headphones on, trying to ignore as much as possible the entire racket his robots were making. Luckily for Jack, the metal in is headphones was covering quite well the sound of metal hitting the floor. When the guitar solo began, Jack was finally starting to have the vibe he was waiting for. His hands started moving with much more ease as if that part of the song brought down all the walls that were blocking his creative genius.

As the first new robotic head, provided with advanced armour, was almost completed, the security alarmed broke his concentration for it was easily heard over the music. Jack took off his headphones confused. In a matter of seconds, he came to his senses and stopped the alarm, then called for his robots. There had to be the Xiaolin Losers, he thought, or Hannibal Bean. No one else had any interest in breaking into his domain.

He went out of his laboratory, always stopping at every corner to check the way and his back. Although he didn't admit it to himself, his face gave his thoughts away. Fear. His robots barely had a chance in front of the monks or the Bean when they were dozens. Now he had only three.

He walked out of the house, finding no sign of any of his enemies. The Evil Boy Genius was puzzled. It wasn't like them to hide after breaking an entry. Jack looked around again then took a few steps in the yard.

"Who's there?" he yelled not really expecting to receive an answer. When his expectations were confirmed, he turned around, preparing to go back in his lab when he finally spotted it. He saw what triggered the security alarm and in the next second, he froze. A big part of his gate was shattered on the ground and over the pieces, there was, from what he could tell from that distance, a motorbike. He recovered from the shock rather fast and ran towards the place of the accident. Under the metal bars of the fence and some broken bricks, a silhouette was lying in a small puddle of blood.

"Doc-bot!" Jack yelled, turning his face to the house. In a few moments, a robot with a red cross on his chest flew towards Jack. "Take this girl from under here and... take care of her wounds!"

As the robot was carefully digging in the debris for the young girl, Jack was thinking if it would be a wise idea for him to take care of her. Maybe, it crossed his mind, a hospital would be a better option. He looked at his robot analyzing her body before picking her up, to verify if moving her body would worsen her condition. His eyes were locked on her twisted body. Her long brownish-red hair was covering most of the helmet she was still having on her head, making Jack wonder how was she still able to breathe. The Doc-bot took off her helmet, revealing her brown eyes almost flipped back.

This image scared Jack even more. He took into consideration getting her to the hospital. However, getting her to the hospital would take some time and who knew how her condition would evolve. As far as Jack was concerned, he started to trust his Doc-bot more than any doctor, considering that the artificial intelligence it was provided with, gave the robot a better chance of finding a good diagnosis than maybe any doctor from any hospital from the vicinity.

"Take her to the room upstairs and tell me if she needs any kind of... surgery" he made a small pause trying not to think of the possibility of having a stranger cut open in his house. The Doc-bot was hurrying towards the house, followed by Jack who seemed even paler than usual.

***

Her vision begun to slowly recover and on that light blue background that a moment earlier took over her sight, thin blurry yellowish stripes started dancing. As the vision cleared more, the stripes started to gain more details. Wheat yarns were the only thing Sinope was able to see as she was lying on her back on the warm ground. Her head was slightly turned to the left, making her cheek to rest on the ground as well.

Those swift steps from earlier returned. Sinope tried to get up as her heart begun bumping faster, but her arms and legs didn’t seem to want to obey her.

“Who’s there?!” she cried. Her eyes raced from one side to the other of her sockets, trying to see the person approaching her. As the steps got closer, their speed decreased. Sinope’s heartbeats accelerated in such manner that she started hyperventilating. The steps got even closer. She was hearing the weeds rustling under the entity’s feet with every new step it took. It was only in that moment when she finally realised there weren’t one pair of feet coming towards her, but two. A cold sweat covered her whole body.

The steps stopped as the thing got right behind her. Just like an animal, it didn’t attack directly as its prey was unable to run. It stood there, slowly sniffing her nape and back.

“Well then…” Sinope heard that thing hissing right near her ear, “isn’t this a little unexpected?”

Sinope tried to move again, but no prevail. She struggled desperately, trying to turn around, but it felt as if her whole body was bounded by some invisible threads. With a swift move, the thing that was earlier behind her, jumped in front of her, finally being in full view. Sinope looked up only to see an enormous reptile, nearly demonic, gazing down on her. Her scream got stuck in her throat. She only managed to release a few whimpers.

“We’re not used to visitors here” the reptile continued, seeming excited by her fear. “But I don’t complain” he started moving again, circling her body, “after all… I haven’t eaten human flesh in centuries.”

“Stay away from me!”

As she uttered the last word, the reptile prepared for the attack. Sinope closed her eyes the moment she heard its feet raising from the ground as it jumped for its prey. She stood there, waiting the horrible outcome that seemed to be delayed. She heard the sound of a hit and as she opened her eyes again, in front of her was a tall man, with black hair. His back was facing her, as his eyes were glaring at the reptile which was now a few feet from them.

“Leave… now!” the man said as he turned his head, looking at her from the corner of his eyes.

The reptile got up and ran towards them, growling in anger. As the two of them fought, Sinope tried once again to get up. She didn’t understand how was she supposed to go when she wasn’t even able to move?

“Leave!” the man yelled once again as he struggled to keep the beast from biting his arm off.

“How? I can’t get up! I don’t even know where I am…”

Immediately after she finished the sentence she froze. She didn’t know where she was or how she got there. The last thing she could remember was that she was riding her motorbike, and then the whole scenery changed… ‘It happened again!’ she thought. She was trapped in another vision and she needed to push herself to wake up. She struggled again and whispered to herself.

“Please… just… wake…up!”

***

Sinope’s eyes snapped open. She barely managed to look at the ceiling before they closed again. She pushed herself to open them once again, this time a little slower for her eyelids felt much heavier than she expected. She searched the room with her eyes. It was unrecognizable. A wave of panic took over her. She tried to get up, but when she was about to put some weight on her arms to change her position, she felt the bandages on her body. Her left arm along with her left side of the body were covered with clean bandages. Her breathing intensified and kept looking around the room. She was alone. The bed was placed on the left side of the room, leaving some space between it and the wall, where it placed a nightstand with a small lamp on it. Near it, there was a machine on which she was connected that was checking her heartbeats. On the right, near the bed, there was a desk, placed right in front of the window which was covered by thick brownish curtains. On the desk, there were some bandages and small bottles, along with a scalpel and some more metallic things that Sinope couldn’t identify on the first glance.

The door suddenly opened and a red-haired boy slowly peeked in. When Sinope saw him, her heart begun pumping more blood, thus making the machine show her panic through the speed of her heartbeats.

“Calm down!” Jack said walking slowly in the room with his hands up.

“Who are you?” she asked not actually following his advice. “Where am I?” Sinope became even more agitated and tried to get off the bed, a thing that induced more pain in her quite frail body.

“Would you calm down, already?” he asked, sitting on the chair next to her. “Stop moving, you’ll break the stitches!”

Sinope shut up as he pulled the curtains in order to check her arms and the bandages on the abdomen to see if there was blood on them. She finally could take a better look at the boy who was assisting her. His red hair was shining as the sun razes were directly falling on it. The yellow goggles on his head were reflecting the light on the wall above Sinope, hitting her eyes from time to time when he was moving too much. His face was even paler than hers with two lines of black eyeliner under his eyes.

“They’re good for now, but seriously, stop reacting like that; I’m not going to hurt you…”

“Why am I here?” she asked not being able to control the tremble in her voice, yet trying to seem strong and confident.

“…good question…” Jack answered sarcastically, “I will tell you that immediately after you explain to me how you managed to break down half of my gate with a motorbike! What was that thing made of, anyway? Thor’s hammer?”

Sinope looked puzzled. She stared in his red eyes for a couple of seconds, narrowing her eyebrows, trying to understand what he meant by that. In a moment she remembered. She was on her motorbike before having that… vision.

“Oh… right, I hit the gate when I lost control of my motorbike…” she answered looking again at her bandages.

“No really!” he kept being sarcastic, this time his tone matching his facial expression.

“You… got me from under there?”

“No need to thank…”

“Thank you!” she said moving slowly in order to get up, in a sitting position. “And… I’m sorry for the gate” she looked down at the covers, a little ashamed. “I will pay for it and for the medical care and…”

“No need” the boy answered, getting up and looking out the window. “My workers are getting everything done.”

“I see…”

Sinope looked once again at him then back at the covers. She had one more attempt to get up, but the pain pinned her down once again. Jack looked at her for a couple of seconds as she kept trying to get out of bed until he decided to put an end to her struggle.

“You… do realize that you will eventually break your stitches this way, right?”

“I’ll be fine, no worries!” she said as she moved her weights from one arm to another in her struggle to get up from the bed. “I can handle it. And besides… I don’t want to abuse your hospitality.”

“Hospitality…? Oh no, no, don’t get me wrong! I only picked you up from there because I couldn’t have repaired the gate with you lying all over it.” He was sarcastic, she figured this time. A short chuckle escaped her lips before taking a deep breath in order to try again to move. “If you want to act tough, that’s fine by me, but when your wounds will open, try not to stain my carpet with your blood…”

Jack got up from the chair and walked towards the door, not really wanting to put up with her stubbornness. He beeped on a small remote in his pocket and in less than ten seconds a robot entered the room. Sinope gasped before managing to contain her surprise, then stared at Jack, waiting for an explanation.

“Doc-bot, in case umm… what was your name again?” he looked at her moving his hand as if he was trying to remember if she mentioned it earlier.

“Sinope…” she answered, moving her eyes from Jack to the robot.

“Right, if Sinope wants to get up and move around, assist her and make sure she won’t break the stitched.”

“Yes, sir!” the robot answered. His mechanical voice was accompanied by short beeps and based on the intensity of the sound, lights turned on and off at the place where his mouth supposed to be. Jack put one step outside the room when Sinope’s voice stopped him in an instant.

“This is absolutely amazing! How did you get something like that?”

“What do you mean “get”? I didn’t get it, I made it!” Jack answered, more excited than annoyed.

“You made it?! Like, you made it from scratch or you just programmed it?”

Jack stood there for a moment. It was unusual for him to receive this kind of interest in his work from anyone he’s ever met, not even from his so-called allies. People like Katnapee or Tabimura were nowhere close to understanding the difficulty of creating such complex robots, while Wuya or Hannibal, who were supposed to be smarter, looked down on his work as if the scientific development was just a trifle. Above all, Chase Young not only looked down on his work but looked down on him as an ally in the war between good and evil.

“From scratch…” Jack looked down. He was feeling a little embarrassed under her fascinated gaze.

“Wow… that’s… that’s amazing…” Jack raised his eyes from the ground. Sinope’s jaw dropped, looking as if she weren’t able to recover from that amazement. She spent a lot of her time reading about programming language for robotics, wishing that eventually, she would be able to get a job in this domain. The fact that her motorbike accident got her in the house of this robotics genius was more to her than she could have ever asked for.

“Yeah… they are, aren’t they?” he finally said, breaking the silence and looking more and more confident. “It was really hard work, but hey, I managed to build quite a lot of them.” Sinope was still speechless. “Umm… you ok?”

Another few seconds passed before Sinope managed to gather all her thoughts in finally uttering a sentence.

“Can I stay to see them?”

“I… guess…” Jack was taken by surprise. She saw that as well and tried to explain herself.

“Sorry, it’s just… I’ve read a lot about this and I always wanted to have the occasion to see this process in person… eh, I’ve even dreamed about creating some myself, but I never had the materials for it… and neither the knowledge. But I’m great at sketching the design! Sorry again. I know it sounds very crazy all I’m saying, but… I’m just very excited and nervous…”

Jack looked at her. It crossed his mind that this girl might have been a spy, but it didn’t seem to make sense for whom. Wuya, Chase, Hannibal? They wanted nothing from him that badly in order to use a spy to get it. The Xiaolins? They were too noble to use such a scheme. No, he wasn’t going to believe she was a spy. He preferred not to believe that. He wanted to think this was for real. Maybe this girl was the answer to his prayers. He has always imagined what it would be like to team up with someone with the same interests as he. He thought that maybe if he gave her the opportunity to work with him on some robots she would probably accept his offer as his new evil partner.

“I’ll show them to you if you want that much… but only after you heal those nasty wounds.”

Sinope’s face cracked into a wide smile she was unable to control. Her whole face lightened up and kept thanking him over every line of “you’re welcome”. When she stopped talking, Jack ordered the robot again to check on her and prepared to leave the room.

“Oh, one more thing!” she said. “I… I don’t know your name.”

Jack stopped, his back facing her. Sinope blinked twice, not knowing if she said something she shouldn’t have, although she didn’t understand what it could have been, or if she should repeat. A low chuckle was released from Jack’s throat. He turned his head to the side, slightly bowed so his shoulder would cover his chin and a little bit of his mouth, but revealing the smirk painted on his lips.

“I…I am Jack Spicer!” he raised his voice when he uttered his name, then turned around completely pointing his thumb to his chest. “The Evil Boy Genius!”


	2. A Shen Gong Wu?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the title say, the Shen Gong Wu that Jack had been waiting for has revealed itself. Is he going to trust Sinope with all the information he has and take her along for the hunt? You'll just have to stick around and see.  
> Also, does anyone wonder how is Chase doing? What about the Monks? Are they going to meet on the battleground for another Xiaolin Showdown? Well, there's only one way to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, guys, I know it's been quite a while since I uploaded the first chapter, but here is the next one. It took some time to think the whole story over so it would make sense 'till the end. First, I must say that I would joggle with some of the Shen Gong Wus that had already been revealed in the show, but I need some of them pointed out in the story because they will be relevant later in the plot.  
> Thus being said, enjoy this new chapter. Also, don't forget to comment your opinions about my work ^^

Chase woke up from his meditative state quite abruptly. The moment his eyes snapped open he was no longer able to maintain the focus on his levitation ability, a thing that made him become a slave of gravity once again. He bent one knee as he reached the ground, while his hands slapped the floor in order to maintain his balance. The sound of his fall echoed in the room as Chase remained in that position for a few moments, looking down at the ground as a few locks of his long raven hair covered his face. He then got up with a blank look on his face. Thousands of thoughts were racing through his mind along with strong feelings of anger, despair and confusion; in a moment of weakness, his body suddenly turned around and with a swift move he hit with a back of his fist a pillar which, under the force of Chase’s punch, lost its centre of gravity, shattering as it hit the floor.

He frowned as the dust rose to the air before returning to his throne. He let a growl escape his lips as he put one hand over his eyes. It had been some time since the last moment he was able to meditate properly. For years, this state was the only thing that could keep his mind away from the beast’s complete control, but in the last year, things seemed to have changed. He was now unable to concentrate for more than a few minutes before his mind was pushed back into consciousness with almost no memories of the images that inflicted his brain during that state. This change raised quite a lot of questions for Chase and at the same time affected his behaviour. Even Wuya noticed there was something wrong with the Prince of Darkness. However, although she was curious, she never dared to ask him anything about it. Chase knew she was trying to spy on him during his meditative state, thus being the reason why his cats were permanently guarding the door.

He didn’t want to admit it, but he knew rather well that ever since the last year, there had been something wrong with his demonic side. Still, if until a few weeks ago he could still barely control or at least remember the events during his meditative state, lately it seemed to be harder and harder. The beast was gaining more and more power and Chase knew that eventually, the demon’s power was going to crush his will.

A thick layer of confusion clouded Chase’s mind. He tried to find an explanation for the events that had occurred. The meditation that once had kept the reptile under control was now feeding its willpower from Chase’s own spirit. From time to time, as he could barely recall, the beast was transporting him, during the meditation, in different places where they were battling for dominance over the body.

He couldn’t understand how that was even possible or what might have produced his sudden lack of control. He tried to remember the last encounters, but every time he tried, his head hurt more and more. He forced himself to overcome the fog that covered his memories and eventually managed to remember some pieces of the last vision. Besides himself and the lizard, he recalled seeing another person there, lying on the ground, but couldn’t recognise him or her. He didn’t see the person’s face nor remembered if he either heard any voice besides the lizard’s growl.

Chase was rather distressed. The fact that he couldn’t remember the person that invaded his vision raised even more questions. Who was that person and what did he want? ‘It could have been Hannibal Bean’, Chase thought since he tried to destroy him on several occasions. Still, he never tried to invade his mind before and thinking of that, Chase realised that this strategy was a little too much for that bean’s brain. Wuya? He was aware that the witch was ready to double cross him anytime, therefore, he was sure to pay very good attention to her behaviour. She didn’t seem suspicious at all lately and considering that she wasn’t the good liar she wanted to seem, she was innocent for the moment.

Master Monk Guan could have been an option, however, the reason he might have tried something like that wasn’t very clear. Chase tensed again as he thought of Guan entering his mind. ‘Was it a threat?’ he thought, ‘or maybe just another stupid attempt to destroy the lizard…’. Chase laughed to himself. No matter what Guan was trying to do, he could never remove him from the Heylin side. ‘Was he stupid enough to try some sort of manoeuvre to turn him to the side of good?’ Chase kept thinking. He might have been…

After a few more minutes in which the Prince of Darkness had tried to discover any reason for which anybody wanted to get into his mind during his meditations, he got up from his throne and walked slowly towards the door. It was enough for now that he was aware of the fact that somebody had this ability to invade another person’s mind and in the future, he was going to pay more attention to those visions. He left the room, locking the door behind him. The last thing he needed now, he thought, was Wuya entering his sacred room without his permission.

***

Things at the temple weren’t any better than at Chase’s lair. It’s been already two months since Raimundo achieved the next rank on the road to Xiaolin Dragon, the Shoku Warrior, and Omi didn’t seem to get used to it not at all. Although he kept training with the rest of the monks as Master Fung told them to, the young warrior seemed to be less and less part of the team. Equality was now a long forgotten word.

It was midday and as Master Fung was drinking his tea on the porch, the young monks were in the middle of their daily training. As their master suggested, they were using the Shen Gong Wus in battles against each other in order to improve their techniques against opponents who supposedly knew their weakness. Raimundo and Kimiko were the first to start and unlike before, Omi didn’t interfere not even with a comment. Whenever his fellow monks were fighting, Omi felt like commenting their battle skills or even block an attack that wasn’t meant for him, in order to teach his friends things that he thought would help them in future battles with Chase Young. However, this time, he was only gazing at them, analyzing every move and taking mental notes for every mistake Raimundo made. Omi couldn’t understand how Raimundo was the first to achieve the next level and not him. As far as he was concerned, Raimundo betrayed them once and although his actions seemed to be, for the others, ancient history, for him it was a clear proof that his place wasn’t actually there. He wasn’t sure whether he should talk with anyone about this or just repress those thoughts, but lately, it became harder and harder for the young monk to hide his disbelief in the master’s decision.

“Alright, partner” Clay started, breaking Omi’s chain of thoughts; “I think it’s our turn now.”

Omi looked from Clay to his other teammates only to see their fight being already over. He looked at Raimundo who was leaving the fighting spot, holding Kimiko’s hand. ‘Did he manage to injure her that bad during the battle that she needed somebody to help her walk?’ Omi asked himself a little puzzled by the thing he was seeing.

“Indeed it is!” Omi finally answered Clay, with a smile on his face. “I promise you will face an honourable defeat!”

As the monks continued their training, Master Fung finished his tea and went for a walk. He noticed rather quickly the change Omi was going through ever since his last attempt to turn Chase to the side of good. Master Fung tried to hide his concern as well as possible from the Xiaolins and from Dojo as well, but he couldn’t help thinking that this internal war Omi was going through may be the end of him. The Master knew the young monk all too well. He was aware of Omi’s great expectations of himself and there were times when the old man had thought if choosing Raimundo to become a Shoku Warrior was actually the best choice.

He tried to convince himself that his judgement was right. Raimundo seemed to become more and more careful, he was planning ahead, while Omi’s obsession with bringing Chase Young on the side of good made him rather reckless. Or at least that was Master Monk Guan had said after he trained the monks.

Master Fung stopped walking in the middle of the forest. He took a seat on a boulder and gazed in the distance, letting a quiet sigh escape his lips. Dark days were upon them. He could sense the clouds gathering on the horizon as new evil forces rose to power. The Master was curious. For how long the forces of good would be able to put a good fight? The monks were at the edge of their friendship and if they decide to separate from one another, their powers would lower considerably. He always thought that in case of emergency, Master Monk Guan would be the key soldier in this war between good and evil, but lately… he wasn’t that sure. Master Fung raised his head and looked at the clear sky. Not since the last visit Master Guan had paid…

The Young Monks gathered around Master Monk Guan. He saluted them as his face remained impenetrable. He held his head high, with his eyes closed as usual, and his right hand clenched on the Spear of Guan.

“Master Monk Guan!” Omi said enthusiastically, as he always was around him. “What brings you here? Are the forces of evil attacking again? Should we ”

“I’m here to have a word with Master Fung!”

His voice cut Omi’s enthusiasm in a second. He couldn’t remember the last time when Master Monk Guan had spoken in such manner. His croaky voice echoed in the young monk’s head as he remained silent. The master walked past him, going towards the main door of the temple as the rest of the monks gathered around Omi. Master Fung opened the door the moment Master Monk Guan arrived in front of the stairs. None of them said a word. It seemed to be an unnecessary form of communication at that moment. Master Monk Guan raised his head and turned around as the other one followed him out of the temple’s yard.

“I assume there is something troubling you” Master Fung finally said as they walked quietly around the domain.

“Otherwise I wouldn’t have come to see you” he answered. Master Fung looked at him, waiting for him to continue. “Dark times are upon us… the forces of evil are gathering their strength…”

“The young monks are learning fast. Now that one of them got achieved the next Xiaolin level…” Master Monk Guan did not wait to hear the rest.

“Their actual strength is not going to be of any use for what is about to come, master! I’ve seen young Omi. He is alarmingly keen on Chase Young…”

“I hope you’re not implying that Omi is drawn by the Heylin side,” Master Monk Guan said nothing. His eyebrows were closed together and although his eyes were shut, as usual, he seemed to look right into Master Fung’s thoughts. After a few moments in which there was no answer to the question, Master Fung continued, “There is nothing in the young monk’s heart that alarms me and it shouldn’t alarm you either.”

“You are a noble man, indeed, Master Fung, but you blind trust will have consequences in this war against evil. If Omi falls into the traps of Chase Young once again, I hope I don’t have to remind you what protecting him will mean.” Master Monk Guan turned around. “The evil forces are rising. I feel them. I’m not yet sure what we should expect… but I came to put you in guard… and also to tell you” he turned his face so Master Fung could see his profile, “that there is no mercy for the fallen warriors!”

***

It’s been a few days since Sinope met Jack. Her wounds were starting to heal pretty nice. She no longer needed bandages for her sides, but only for her shoulder which seemed to heal a little harder. Sinope was indeed thankful to Jack for going through so much trouble to help her heal but tried to avoid any discussion the Evil Boy Genius would start about her accident. Jack believed she was still shaken from that experience and he was right. Well, only partially right.

She was indeed shaken, but not because of the accident alone. It couldn’t cross her mind that her wounds were due to that vision she had. After all, the monster that lurked in the darkness managed to hit the exact part of her body that needed medical attention. She tried again to find a reasonable explanation about what had happened to her and chose to believe that the creature managed to inflict that much pain into her because, in real life, her body has gone through a physical pain due to the accident. When she hit the gate, her mind correlated the monster’s attack with the collision, thing that made her believe that was that hideous thing that wounded her. It was the perfect explanation. It was actually, the only explanation she was ready to accept. It’s been years since she left behind everything that had something to do with magic and spirituality and she wasn’t quite ready to return to them. She simply decided to cover anything apparently inexplicable with a thick veil of scientific and logical theories that could help her get over her darkness and mental pain.

While Sinope was putting some order in her thoughts and quietly working on a sketch for a new, improved robotic armour, Jack was working on one of the robots’ skeleton. He raised his eyes from the metal pieces more than he would have wanted, in order to take a look at the girl that was right across the table. He was impressed by her. He tried to hide the amazement and cheerfulness from his face, but sometimes it seemed impossible for the Evil Boy Genius. Sinope was, by far, the most competent partner he had ever had. She had shown him some of her new ideas along with the sketches she had been working on and Spicer agreed immediately to implement every new thing she suggested. He didn’t even look through them as carefully as he let the impression, but judging by the way she was talking about them, convinced him that she knew what she was talking about. Well that, until he really tried to put together everything she told him to.

“I still don’t understand. How is my robot supposed to spit fire?” Jack asked puzzled, scratching the back of his head with a wrench.

“Well if you had let me explain this earlier, you would have understood! The whole mechanism is to implement a new function on the robot so they would use a second fuel container to create the flames…”

“This will only make them heavier. How will we manage the extra weight?”

“What extra weight? What are you talking about?”

“You just said something about a second container!!!” Jack was starting to scream, a thing that made Sinope do the same thing.

“For the love of God, did you even look over my sketches?!”

“Yes, and they are ugly!”

Sinope didn’t expect this answer. She kept looking at him, blinking a few times as if she tried to make sure she wasn’t dreaming that whole discussion. She sighed and shook her head before letting a chuckle escape her lips. ‘This guy is unbelievable’ she thought then looked back at him, raising the hand in which she was holding a screw wrench.

“I will hit you! Look over those sketches again Little Genius!”

“It’s Evil Boy Genius!”

Sinope got up from her chair and walked towards him. For one moment, Jack expected her to smack him therefore as she came closer, he covered his head with his arms, freezing on the chair. She kept going until she got right next to him. She didn’t seem to pay attention to his reaction, only put the sketches on the table in front of him and grabbed a chair.

“As I was saying” she started, drawing his attention “look here!” Jack looked. “The second container it’s basically alimented from the main one. The way I see it, you only need to connect those two and add a second compartment from where the robot can take the fuel for the fire. I’m not going to put 10 litres of gasoline on their back so they can have flames, but not be able to fly…”

“OK, I get that” Jack put his elbows on the table looking down at her sketches, now much more careful than before. “So if I understand this correctly, we need to implement a function for them so if they start to run out of fuel, they won’t be able to use the flames…”

“Yeah, otherwise they won’t be able to fly or move. I don’t know if we really need to add a new function. We can just rearrange the containers so they would have a minimum amount of fuel which they can only use for moving.”

“So… you want a third container?”

“Not necessarily, but it could be useful…”

“Yeah, why not, make my war robots a fuel storehouse!”

Their argument went on and on with no apparent outcome. However, although Jack started to complain about almost every idea Sinope came up with, he provided her with all the things she needed in order to rebuild his robots the way she wanted. Her ideas weren’t all that bad and maybe, he thought when he would put their new creations to test, he could make then the necessary changes. He looked at Sinope again and couldn’t help but crack a smile. The image this girl was creating as she was working at his table, with her hair falling down on her still bandaged shoulder, her eyebrows closed together as she was concentration on small details and her soft dexterous hands putting together the robots piece by piece, made Jack so lightheaded that he found it rather hard to concentrate on anything else. Until…

“Jack?” Sinope said, her voice barely being heard over the loud music. Jack had no reaction. “Jack! Your watch is beeping!” No reaction.

Sinope got up from the table with Jack’s watch in her hand. The Evil Boy Genius was lost in his thoughts looking now down at the robotic pieces he tried to put together that he didn't even notice Sinope moving towards him. The moment when a strong hand caught him by the shoulder, Jack finally came to reality and looked at Sinope.

“I told you it was a little too loud!” she yelled.

“What’s wrong?” he got up and lowered the volume.

“Your watch is beeping. I thought it was important.”

“My watch?...” when he said trying to remember for what reason he would have set an alarm. He blinked twice before Sinope showed him the watch she was talking about. Jack jumped in his feet, taking it from her hands while laughing maniacally. Sinope took a step back. She had never seen before someone so excited over an alarm. ‘Maybe he ordered a package and it should arrive soon’ she thought.

“Alright!!! Spicer is back on the game!” Jack yelled and ran towards a metal closet. Sinope looked how excited he was, not being sure what to even ask. For a couple of seconds, Jack had forgotten she was in the room with him until she spoke.

“What’s going on?”

Jack stopped before opening the door. He turned his head, facing Sinope with his hand still trembling on the lock. He tried to think it through. He trusted Sinope with his robots and his scientific work. He trusted her enough to let her hang out a while in his house. But Shen Gong Wus? It was a big step and he knew it… maybe too big.

“I’m… going to get something.”

“Something like… what?”

“Well… like…like… a collection object?” Sinope raised one eyebrow.

“A collection object? It surely must be a top-secret collection object, right?”

Jack said nothing. He just chuckled mechanically. Sinope sighed and went back to her seat with her back facing Jack.

“It’s fine, no worries, if it’s something personal, you don’t have to tell me. Just go get your stuff and we’ll see each other after that. Maybe I’ll manage to finish the armour by the time you return.”

“Ok, fine!” he finally said. Jack didn’t manage to find a rational answer to trust her with that piece of information, but before he managed to contain himself, he opened the closet door. “I’m going to get a Shen Gong Wu! You want to come, fine, but stay out of everything. Just watch from the distance. It might be dangerous…”

“Dangerous? What’s a Shen Gong Wu?” that word sounded so familiar to her, but she seemed to be no longer able to remember what it meant. She was sure she heard it somewhere before.

“It’s an object with… oh for crying out loud, just get your boots and activate the robots we built by now, I’ll explain everything on the way… hurry up!”

“Okay, okay, I’m going! Jeez, it’s not like it’s going somewhere!”

“Considering how fast you move, neither are we!”

***

“Another Shen Gong Wu has revealed itself!” Wuya said as her eyes got that magically yellow glow. “It’s the Sun Chi Lantern! Whoever possesses it can combine his Chi with anybody he desires…”

Wuya was no longer excited when a Shen Gong Wu revealed itself. She knew there were slim chances for Chase to go after it or at least allow her to go since he had little interest in those magical trinkets as he called them. She stood in front of the meditation chamber not sure if she should knock or not. She expected him to yell at her as usual and tell her to stay put until he says it’s time to make a move. She almost turned around to leave when she felt the Shen Gong Wu again. ‘Oh for evil’s sake, he will just yell at me and that’s that. There should be at least a slim chance to convince him after all… Oh heck… what do I have to lose anyway?”

Wuya extended her arm as she was about to knock when the door opened. In front of her, there was Chase Young.

“Chase?! What are you… I mean, I didn’t want to disturb you… I just figured I should tell you that a Shen Gong Wu…”

“Has revealed itself? I already know that! Get ready, this time we're going after it.” Chase went past her immediately after he locked the door behind him. “And about you disturbing me… well, your presence always does! Hurry up now!”

Wuya stick her tongue at him the moment she was sure he wasn’t going to see her, then followed him towards the exit. This Shen Gong Wu was going to be hers, she thought.

***

“So let me see if I understand this correctly… these magical objects appear out of nowhere and you go to get them in order to… what?”

“Take over the world!” Jack said not moving his eyes from his watch that helped him find its exact location.

“I see… and there are other people going after them…”

“Yeah, the Xiaolin Losers and that old hag along with Chase Young!” Sinope nodded having no idea who those guys were. “Ok, we’re close to the Wu!” Jack lowered the speed and was ready to land. “Stay away from the battlefield, it will get messy and the next thing certainly don’t want to do is swipe my room after you eat in bed again cause you to mess your wounds again!”

“Doubtfully I’ll interfere, I just want to see my robots in action.”

“Your robots?!”

“Are you going or not?”

“Fine, fine!”

Sinope got out of the vehicle shortly after Jack and looked at him as he gathered his robots for the battle. He took some of the objects he gathered in the past and found his way through the high grass toward a hill. She didn't exactly know what to expect. Jack told her how he usually had to fight for every Shen Gong Wu he found, but she couldn't really visualize the battle. Also, how were the others aware where to find those things? Did all of them have a smartwatch like Jack? Well, that was a question she wished she had asked him earlier.

Suddenly, the wind intensified and her body along with the flying vehicle she was sitting on were shadowed by a huge object that was flying above her. She looked up only to see a creature the size of a tree that was defying gravity. Sinope froze as that thing flew towards the hill as well. She tried to focus in order to understand what that thing was, but she didn’t manage to come with any reasonable explanation. Sinope blinked a few times not really sure if she should go after Jack or stay there as he told her. She got down from her spot looking around her as if she expected to see other strange things going after the Shen Gong Wu. As she thought of the object everybody was after, for a slip of a second, this word rang a bell. She was sure she heard about it before but wasn't exactly sure she wanted to remember where.

An explosion broke her chain of thoughts. As her eyes focused on the hill once again, she spotted smoke coming from there. Before thinking, she found herself running to that exact spot, completely ignoring Jack's warnings.

“Jack Spicer, prepare for a humiliating defeat!” She heard not far from her.

Sinope kept running towards the location from where she heard the voice. As she got closer, the fight had already started. She stopped near a tree, trying to stay out of everybody’s sight as much as possible. As she stared at the fight, she finally understood why Jack was so serious about her staying behind. Huge metal fragments vaulted through the air and roughly hit the ground as fireballs and tornadoes were thrown towards the robots she worked so hard on. Besides Jack, four other people were there who seemed to have inhuman powers and who, apparently, were after the same thing. That Shen Gong Wu. Her palms started to sweat as she strengthened the grip on the trunk behind which she hid. Their moves were so familiar. That fighting technique those guys were using induced Sinope such an unusual fear that she almost felt like vomiting.

As she was lost in her thoughts, remembering so many moments when she practised those moves as well, she heard another blast. She looked back at the fight only to see this time, not a robot, but Jack hit the ground just like a rock which was thrown from a mountain. She took a step forward, barely realizing what she was doing.

***

Raimundo’s wind blast caught Jack by surprise and before he managed to invoke the power of any Shen Gong Wu in his possession, he got hit full force. Through that whole racket, Kimiko’s cheer was easily heard. There were barely any robots left so the Monks went back on their search for the Wu. Omi looked at Raimundo with an unusual stare, then glanced at Jack who was trying to recover from that tremendous blast. He shook his head mumbling something quietly enough so the rest of the monks wouldn’t hear him then returned to his quest.

The first one to find the Wu was Kimiko.

“Guys! I’ve found it! The Sun Chi Lantern is right over…”

Before she managed to finish her sentence, right in front of her eyes, a tall dark figure blocked the way. She took a step back as the rest of the Monks regrouped around her.

“As it seems, we meet again…” Chase said with his well-known grin painted on his face.

“Chase Young!” Omi answered taking a step towards him. He glared at him. It wasn’t his usual glare, Chase noticed. In his eyes, the eagerness to battle came to light; such craving for fighting that took Chase by surprise.

Before the rest of the Monks had a chance to make any move, Omi was already running towards Chase, preparing his Orb of Tornami for the attack. Chase’s smirk grew wider as he blocked Omi’s punch, then kick, then another punch and so on. The Young Monk was getting stronger and Chase was aware of that. The Heylin side could always use a fallen warrior like Omi was about to be.

As the kept battling, Jack had gotten up from the ground and ran towards the Wu. Noticing this new interference, Wuya gave up on the element of surprise and jumped out of her hiding place, going after the Wu. The Monks followed and immediately after them, Chase and Omi as well. There was no longer a one to one combat, but a real battle royale.

Finally, the Wu started to glow. Omi’s hand was near Chase’s on the Sun Chi Lantern which meant that there was going to be a Xiaolin Showdown.

“Umm… why is this thing glowing?”

Besides their hands, out of nowhere, another one was on the Shen Gong Wu.

“What in the world are you doing there?!” Jack yelled.

“What is the meaning of this? Who are you?” Chase looked disorientated at the girl who was holding a part of the Wu as well.

“I’m here for the Wu as well… I guess” Sinope answered as she looked rather curious at the black haired man in front of her. His long hair rang a bell in her head, but she simply couldn’t understand where she had seen him before.

Omi stood there in silence, as the two of them stared at each other. He coughed in order to draw their attention before he spoke.

“Chase Young and… umm… forgive me, but I missed your name.”

“Oh, my name is Sinope,” she answered looking now at the bald boy.

“Right, so, Chase Young and Sinope, I challenge you to a Showdown Trio! I wager the Orb of Tornami!”

“And I wager the Shroud of Shadows!”

“Wait, I don’t have anything to wager. Can I borrow one and give it back after the fight?” she asked looking around, now realizing that she should have asked Jack for more details before entering the fight.

“She can have the Lotus Twister!” Jack said throwing the Wu to Sinope. “Just don’t lose it!”

As Sinope caught the Wu, Omi and Chase seemed to just finish a small discussion and both yelled at the same time Gong Yi Tan Pai.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, this is the end of the first chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. I'll try to finish the next one as fast as I can ^^


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